Monday, June 29, 1998 | 9:58 a.m.
In the end, UNLV's star quarterback, Jon Denton, accomplished something that most opposing defenses failed miserably at during the last two seasons.
That is, stop Jon Denton.
The talented but troubled 21-year-old quarterback from Henderson's Green Valley High, who set 10 NCAA and school freshman records in 1996 and was rated one of the nation's top 10 college quarterbacks entering the 1998 season by Lindy's College Football Magazine, announced Friday that he had decided not to return to the Rebels next season and will transfer to another school.
Denton has not returned repeated phone calls from the Sun since the nice and tidy press release issued by the school late Friday afternoon was faxed to local area media outlets. That release, which quoted UNLV coach Jeff Horton as saying Denton "needed to get a fresh start somewhere else and go to a school with a clean slate," made it sound like it was a mutual decision.
But according to two very reliable sources, one high up in the UNLV athletic department and another close to Denton's family as well as the Rebel football program, Horton and the rest of UNLV's coaching staff had in fact grown weary of Denton's off-the-field antics.
With the Rebels set to face one of the nation's strongest schedules featuring road dates at Northwestern, Wisconsin, Colorado State and BYU in what could be a make-or-break year for Horton, it was decided to turn Denton loose now instead of before the start of fall practice in early August when it could become a real distraction.
Horton made it clear that Denton had been abiding by the guidelines set down following his second suspension before the start of spring practice. He also stressed that Denton hadn't failed any drug or alcohol tests, problems rumored to have plagued the talented quarterback previously.
So why would UNLV, a team that has won a grand total of just six games over the last three seasons, suddenly wave goodbye to one of the nation's top quarterbacks?
According to a UNLV athletic department source, Denton was struggling academically to remain eligible and was upset that his starting quarterback job wouldn't automatically be handed back to him this fall following his suspension.
"He's a very talented kid," said a source close to Denton and the Rebel football program. "But he's just as screwed up as he is talented. He's immature.
"It wasn't any one thing," the source continued. "He'd abide by the guidelines for a while, then drop off them, then abide by them again. But his big problem is that he can be a loud mouth, smartass. Some of the new (assistant) coaches -- he was even poppin' off at them at times.
"They eventually sat down as a group and decided, 'What do we do with Jon?' After awhile, it was, 'Bleep it, let's get rid of him.'
"He's really blown it," the source said. "Now he's Randy Moss. He's probably going to have to go to a I-AA or NAIA school."
Because Denton, a junior, has already redshirted, he would have just one year of eligibility remaining at a Division I school. He would be required to sit out the upcoming season at a school on that level, but would be eligible to play immediately at a lower division school and still could play two years.
"I think a lot of Division I schools will be interested in Jon," Horton, in South Bend, Ind., for a celebrity golf tournament, said Sunday night.
Horton denied it was a staff decision to release Denton from his scholarship.
"Nah, it was me," he said. "I had to ultimately make the final decision. When you're the head guy, you make those kinds of decision."
What about Denton's rumored academic problems?
"He was OK," Horton said. "He was going to summer school."
Was it hard to release a player of Denton's talent?
"Oh yeah, it was," Horton said. "He's done a lot of good things for us. We wanted to wait until August to make a decision on his future here, but it wouldn't have been fair to either party to wait that long. Now he has time to go out and visit other schools that still have scholarships available for a quarterback."
With Denton out of the picture, fifth-year senior Kevin Crook, who threw five interceptions and just two touchdowns passes while starting two games in place of the suspended Denton last season, now finds himself on the hot seat.
"I think the whole team is surprised and disappointed that Jonnie is leaving because he was such a big part of UNLV football," Crook said. "I saw (Denton) Saturday night and he thought it might be the best move for him. He was my roommate on the road and we're still very good friends. A lot of people will probably try to make it out that we were butting heads, but it wasn't like that at all. I'm still 100 percent behind Jon."
The 6-3, 205-pound Crook believes he's ready to make the move from backup to starting quarterback for the Rebels.
"I'm not going to say I'm glad Jon left, but it does give me a good opportunity to be 'The Man,'/thinspace" Crook said. "Coach (Buzz) Preston and Coach Horton both told me that I'd be the starter unless I perform poorly. I've been working my butt off. I bleed Rebel red. There's no way I'm going to let the other 100 guys here down. Hopefully, we can all pull together and have a good year."
Despite the tough schedule and the loss of his best player, Horton remains positive.
"I've got all the faith and confidence in the rest of the team and coaching staff," Horton said. "Losing no one kid is going to change that. If we continue to work hard, we'll be all right."
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